Battle for Akito's Hand
by Soramaru
Summary: Akito’s always chasing after Ikki but Ikki just can’t bear the thought of falling in love with a guy. Agito cares deeply for Akito and wants him to be happy, but allowing Akito to have to end up with an idiot like Ikki is totally out of the question!
1. Our Baby

Battle for Akito's Hand

Love triangle, Akito's always chasing after Ikki but Ikki just can't bare the thought of falling in love with a _guy_. Agito, however, cares deeply for Akito, though he may not show it and wants Akito to be happy, but allowing Akito to have to end up with an idiot like Ikki is totally out of the question!

Who will Akito end up with, (if anyone at all)? I still haven't decided.

Strong language, and a bit of violence and probably.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zilch… except perhaps the plot.

* * *

Chapter 1: Our Own Baby 

"Yay! Nyah," Akito swung the little stray white kitten he found earlier, in his hands around as he twirled over and over again, oblivious to the kitten's dizzy state.

Normally, Akito would almost literally be glued to Ikki, but right after school that day…

- Flashback -

Ikki stomps his feet on the dusty ground like a child throwing a tantrum, an evil child with deadly sharp teeth, "I _said_ get in that skirt!" jabbing a finger in the direction of Ringo behind him, holding an elementary school sailor fuku uniform.

"Fuck, I'm not getting in that!" Agito shouted back, "why should I listen to you?"

Everyone else, Kazu, Onigiri, Buccha, Ringo, Emily and Yayoi, stood impatiently behind the arguing two.

"Get one of **them** to wear that!" Agito snarled pointing at Ringo, Emily and Yayoi, the only females around. He held a fist up threateningly at Ikki.

In response, Ikki grabbed Agito by his jacket, lifting him up from the floor by an inch or two. "It's not **my** fault that weirdo likes elementary schoolgirls!" spitting in Agito's face as he yelled. "You're the only one who looks young enough and can ride well."

"Stupid fucking bastard," and with that, Agito switched the eye patch from his right eye to cover his left.

"Eh? Agito?" the surprised and confused Akito was in dominance of the body now.

"Humph, running away again," Kazu remarked.

Veins and arteries popped in Ikki's head and he yanked the eye patch back over Akito's left eye, "Come back over here, Agito! Akito can't ride well, you know that!"

With a series of screaming and yanking the eye patch from eye to eye, easily over a 100 times, changing the furious Agito and the embarrassed Akito back and forth continuously, Agito had finally had enough. Agito threw a hard fist up from under, connecting with Ikki's chin almost snapping Ikki's head back.

"Che!" Agito turned his back on Ikki and the rest of Kogarasumaru, "I'm going home, I don't have time for this." With that Agito stormed off on his A-T's leaving a huge gust of wind blowing dirt and leaves into the faces he left behind and he rode up over the rooftops heading back home, (Ikki's home) where he switched back to Akito and found the kitty cat.

- End flashback -

Akito fell down onto the floor in exhaustion and placed the snowball kitten on his shoulder rubbing his head against its fur with images of Ikki and him together looking after a cat running through his head while blushing.

An itch brought Akito's hand absently up to his face and scratched under his eye patch, accidentally shifting it out of place.

Agito came into dominance explosively, "GET THIS CAT OFF ME!" almost bringing the roof down, he aimed a scratch at the poor startled cat. His left hand, under Akito's control, picked up the cat by the scruff of its neck lifting it out of Agito's right hands reach.

"Akito, throw that cat away."

"Noooo, she's gonna be…"

As Akito started to protest there was a slam of the door and Ikki stormed into the room, Akito dropped the cat, adjusted the eye patch and flew at Ikki, hugging him by the waist, "Ikki!"

"Get off me!" and stuck a foot in Akito's face, kicking him back, "We couldn't steal that guy's parts thanks to Agito!"

Totally ignoring what he just said, Akito grabbed the fur ball that was rolling along the floor like a hedgehog, frightened out of its skin, "Look, she has your eyes and my teeth! Can we adopt her?"

Ikki gave Akito a look as if he was insane and even considered to send him to a loony bin, "What is that…?" Out of nowhere (Ikki's hair) a crow shot through the air and attacked the defenceless ball of fluff, rebounding back into Ikki's head.

The tired Ikki dragged his legs out the room; this was not worth his time, "I'm taking a bath," and started to remove his clothes, leaving them on the floor as he walked and Akito gleefully followed suit, taking the cat with him.

Ikki sat in the bath glumly unmoving, with the soap on the top of his head and Akito squirting water at his face, he had long given up trying to stop Akito. The snowy white cat however, coward on the ledge of the bath, afraid of the steamy deep waters, isolated by the humans.

* * *

Deep into the night, Ikki was fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The bedroom door creaked open, Akito crawled in, dressed in a large t-shirt for pyjamas and holding the sleeping kitty with his arm. 

"Ikki…?" Akito whispered softly, nudging Ikki's shoulder.

"Mmm…?" Ikki groaned, still half asleep.

"I had a bad dream… can baby and I sleep with you?" teary eyed and shaking.

No answer… Ikki fell asleep again? Disappointed, Akito squeezed the cat in his arms for comfort, waking her and it screeched weakly.

_Why me?_ Ikki thought to himself, _I'd never get any sleep if that cat doesn't shut up,_ without any other choice, Ikki, still feigning sleep, rolled over to make room for Akito, giving him a silent invitation.

Overjoyed, Akito climbed in the warm soft bed leaning close to Ikki, too close for Ikki's comfort in fact. Ikki edged a bit further away from Akito, hoping he wouldn't notice but Akito just closed the little space between them every time.

Giving up, Ikki turned to sleep on his other side so that he faced Akito, "Just don't make a habit of this," Ikki warned sleepily, "What did you dream of anyway?"

Akito snuggled up to Ikki happily, "Agito pushed me into a pond."

A vein throbbed at Ikki's temple ready to blow, as the three of them, (four if you include Agito), him, Akito and the fur ball (yet to be named), fell into dreamland.

(To be continued…)


	2. Ikki's Realisation

I can't believe I've updated a day after I wrote the first chapter… I guess it's coz it's the holidays and I have nothing to do what so ever.

I'd like to thank the people who reviewed (LadyRed06 and Lilham), really made me happy since it's my first fanfic I made public. So please help give me ideas and constructive reviews XD. Forgot to enable anonymous reviewing, my bad, enabled it now.

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

* * *

Chapter 2: Ikki's Realisation 

Strong icy winds blew over the rooftop of the school and Kogarasumaru had been called out to gather there in the morning by Kazu for what reason nobody knew yet and he was the only one absent. Ikki's crow hovered on the wind the kitten flapped its forelegs like wings as it jumped up with its back-legs trying to fly like the crow. The pig brothers (Buccha and Onigiri) were stuffing themselves with food, and Ikki was taking a nap while sitting upright. Akito shivered uncontrollably as he hugged Ikki's arm, for a tiny body with not many layers of clothing, he would almost certainly freeze.

"Ah! It's too cold," Akito cried, flapping his arms in despair as he broke out of the ice block that encased him.

Onigiri and Buccha paused their feast for just a moment with a proud look on their faces finally something they beat Akito/Agito, "You need some fat on that body, or else you'll never survive winter."

Horrified at the thought of turning into a third useless pig brother, Akito started crying like a baby, flooding the rooftop floor, thinking, _but if I'm fat will Ikki still like me?_

Ikki opened an eye, without a word he took Akito's shoulder roughly and pulled him into his chest, "Just shut up."

Surprised, Akito latched himself onto Ikki tightly like a koala bear on a tree and Ikki's team jacket wrapped around them both. Enjoying the sensation and warmth from Ikki's body, Akito pressed his ear against his chest, listening to Ikki's rhythmic heartbeat, so different from his own that was racing.

Wham!

The metal door slammed open as Kazu strolled in grinning, only to turn to stone at the sight of Ikki and Akito; from Kazu's perceptive it looked as though Ikki was heavily pregnant. Kazu's lower jaw dropped to the ground and shakily pointed at the _thing_¸ absolutely speechless, _it's just like it was in that film, 'Aliens', I saw last night, argh! How can this be! Noo, we're all going to die!_

Everyone turned and stared at the Kazu statue, question marks appeared over their heads.

"Is he dead?" Onigiri asked.

In an instant they appeared around Kazu (even the kitten and crow) and started to poke him with sticks to see if he was still alive,_ where did they get sticks? _Kazu thought to himself, still in his frozen state.

"Maybe…"

_Eh? Akito. Ikki. Akito stuck to Ikki. No aliens! _These thoughts slowly processed through Kazu's overworked brain, and like popping a bubble Kazu broke out of his frozen state, "Phew, I was worried then," he said with a sigh of relief.

Seeing Kazu was still alive everything went back to normal all too suddenly, the crow started to chase the cat around the roof, Buccha and Onigiri instantly went back to munching on their breakfast, and Akito attached himself back onto Ikki, all ignoring Kazu.

"You guys!" Kazu yelled, irritated by the fact that they don't take any notice of him, _humph, wait till I show them this!_ He reached in his jacket and in a flash he had pulled out and unrolled a large piece of paper, holding it up for all to see.

* * *

"Pay attention, Akito. This is important." Kazu slapped his hand onto the desk. They had moved from the rooftop to their classroom to draw up 'plans' for a parts war with a mysterious person who claimed to be betting some parts he found, including a pair of expensive ball-roller A-T's. 

Even though they were in the comfort of the classroom, Akito was still unnecessarily clinging onto Ikki as if he was naturally a part of Ikki's body. Akito mumbled something under his breath.

"Did Agito say something?"

"Agito said Snowball's cute," Akito answered promptly with a huge smile on his face, while an enraged voice in his head objected, _I did not!_

"Snowball? I thought you said its name was Fluffy." Akito had been changing the name of the scruffy kitten even since he found her, unable to decide what name to call her, but whatever he called her, the cat responded.

However, Agito and Akito's real conversation was:

"_What do you think you're doing, Akito?"_

"I don't know what you mean."

"_You know perfectly well. I'm warning you; don't get so close to that crow."_

"Hmm…"

* * *

The sun was setting and Akito stood waiting at the entrance of the mall alone; he had volunteered to handle everything together with Agito; the mysterious rider wanted a one-on-one battle without any interruptions so he requested that the rider has to be alone. Not knowing anything about the opponent it was best they be on the safe side and the only one who was guaranteed a win was Agito with his regalia. 

"_I have a bad feeling about this, change to me now." _

Agito was right, there was definitely something uneasy about the air. Just as Akito was about to switch the eye patch someone stepped up behind him.

"Hello Akito, my dear little brother," Kaito hissed and he tossed the round metal cage down beside him with a loud clang, in one hand he held his whip and a rubber bullet gun in the other.

Akito spun round and gasped… "Kaito-nii-chan…?" Facing his brother Akito was helpless.

* * *

Back in the Noyamano residence, Ikki was busy celebrating the peacefulness of time without Akito clinging to him at every single second, dancing around the bedroom. The thought that Agito was taking strangely long to beat some person for parts never even occurred to Ikki. 

After hours of watching TV with his 'sisters' and playing video games with Mikan-nee like a battle of life and death, all worn out, Ikki retired to his room for some well earned sleep. Laying on his bed he thought to himself, _why is it so quiet? Something's missing… I just can't put my finger on it._

A soft meow caught his attention, a small white cat landed on his lap, sitting up he immediately realised what was wrong. Akito and Agito were missing. It had been over a month since Akito and Agito lived with him and his sisters, he guess he had gotten so used to that shark psycho. Ikki smirked, now that he thought about it he rather liked Akito's company, that carefree innocent boy. Life was more interesting after Akito came in their lives, in a positive sense of course, even though everyone (especially Mika-nee) always teases him about Akito and first their 'first kiss', which was forced upon by Akito.

Ikki sighed and lifted up the kitten to his face, "I'm sure your mummy will be back soon, Hedgehog," he told the cat with over a trillion names, mostly to reassure himself, "probably just out playing in the dark testing the new ball-roller A-T's."

* * *

In the corner of a dark room, Akito, changed into his orange outfit where his arms were tied, sat in the cage that was shaped of a ball, weeping quietly; glittery tears flowed down his face. Once you've experienced the wind, you it's impossible to go back to before without it. 

Deep inside his mind where Agito lurked, he felt a deep ache in his chest, Akito's pain was his pain but at least they had each other no matter what,_ I knew from the beginning that only I can protect Akito…_

* * *

When Ikki woke up the next morning, Akito still hadn't come back. At school, Akito was absent with no notice, Ikki brushed off concerned questions regarding Akito's absence with a shrug and 'It's Agito'. It wouldn't be strange for Agito to disappear for a while to deal with his own business whatever it was, but usually there would be some kind of hint or reason. 

Ikki began to seriously worry when there was no sign or news of him for three days. Surely something bad didn't happen…

Ringo suddenly burst into the classroom, "Ikki! Something terrible happened. Akito… he…"

(To be continued)


	3. Ikki to the Rescue

Took me forever to do this chapter, mainly because I didn't really think of what to write (but then I got whooshes of ideas and plans for the next few chapters, woot!) and I was busy since it's my parents' days off… T-T

I actually got LadyRed to beta this chapter, so hopefully it reads better and makes more sense than the other chapters but I did re-read through it to see if there was anything wrong with the plot I didn't see when I wrote it. The chapter after this will probably have much less action because… it's easier.

* * *

Chapter 3: Ikki to the Rescue 

"Argh," Akito cried out as Kaito unexpectedly shoved Akito's head down onto the dirt, "Kaito-nii-chan, what are you trying to doing?"

"Shut up." Kaito would make sure this time Agito can't get away, "It was pitifully easy to track you down, you and that stupid Kogarasumaru team leaving a trail of damage wherever you go like a storm aftermath. I just had to wait till you was alone so there wouldn't be any struggle."

"…" Akito listened to Kaito obediently; he heard a sonorous ringing of metal and screws behind his ear. Akito flinched. Cold metal touched his neck and fixed tightly around his neck, sending a shiver down his spine.

Kaito let go of him and got up, adding some distance between Akito and him.

Reaching up, Akito touched the new accessory, a thick metal collar around his neck, _what is this?_

As if answering him, Kaito announced, "Let's try this out…" and from his pocket he revealed a small unfamiliar control that Akito had never seen before, with only a single button.

With a loud _Click_, Kaito pushed the button down, and instantly a large visible electric charge engulfed Akito's body, giving the same effect as being struck by lightning. As Kaito lifted his thumb from the button the punishment stopped.

Akito screamed in pain, jolting from shock, his body was roasted and he lay quivering on the ground.

Pleased with the device, Kaito pulled Akito to his feet brutally, turning him to face the grounds of a nuclear power station filled with storm riders anticipating what would become a great battle between two teams.

Kaito bent down behind Akito to whisper in his ear, "Devour them…" and placing a hand on his shoulder, he swiftly switched Akito's eye patch with his other, to cover Akito's left eye, "…Agito."

Agito's shark-like eye opened, enraged, determined and full of energy, _I've got to do this. I can't let Akito's body get hurt anymore._

* * *

The whirling noise of their A-T's on full speed echoed through the alleyway as they rode on their A-T's on full speed, on their way from Higachu Junior High. 

"Are you sure, Ringo?" Ikki knew this was no joke but he had to make sure.

"Of course!" Spitfire had appeared out of nowhere and alerted Ringo while she was on her way to school, "Spitfire came and told me Kaito unleashed Agito during an A-class battle at an abandoned nuclear power station on the edge of the city."

"Kaito that bastard," Ikki spat.

They arrived at the scene of the rundown nuclear power station; the ground was littered with hundreds of injured bloody bodies of storm riders, wind blew in their faces carrying a foul stench of blood, had Akito become one of the injured amongst the bodies?

No. Standing on the top of the cooling tower was a silhouette of a boy with long tassel like strips ending with hooks attached from his legs whipping the air, Agito. Blood was splattered all over his clothes and skin, not his own blood but blood of other people, Agito was tired and all bruised up from Kaito's beatings.

"Ergh," Agito cried out in pain as electric sparks surrounded him, giving him a serious electric shock. Losing his balance, he fell helplessly from the top of the scarred tower down towards the cold concrete ground.

"Agito!" Everyone rushed towards the cooling tower hoping to catch Agito before he fell from that height to his, most likely, death.

Ikki gritted his teeth; he couldn't let Akito and Agito die. There was no way he could let him die! "Argggggh!" Ikki roared, finding a sudden spur of energy inside himself he flew ahead from the rest of the pack, "Spinning Wallride Overhang 1800°!"

Using the trick Buccha taught him, Ikki spun up the wall of the cooling tower, "**Akito!**" Far up in midair Ikki caught Agito in his arms perfectly, one arm under Agito's knees and the other behind his back under his arms. Agito and Akito's body was scratched, bruised and singed; it broke Ikki's heart, and blamed himself for not caring for Akito enough, if he was with Akito this wouldn't have happened.

"Fucking crow…" Agito croaked, straining to lift his head to look at Ikki only to slip into unconsciousness.

Ikki landed safely and gently laid Agito on the ground, "Akito…" _I won't let Kaito get away with this!_

"Agito!" Kazu, Onigiri, Buccha and Ringo reached them and gathered around the motionless Agito, checking he was still alive and if he had any serious wounds that needed instant attention. Luckily he only had minor injuries and the more serious wounds inflicted by his brother were already starting to heal.

"Eh? What's this?" Buccha pulled down the collar of Agito's jacket, revealing something looking like a metal horseshoe, tightly around his neck.

"Ah! A collar Kaito uses to walk Akito?" an image of Kaito walking Akito like a dog suddenly popped up in everyone's heads.

"Fucking punks, what do you think you're doing with my little brother?" Kaito stepped out from behind a containment building close by, pointing the gun loaded with rubber bullets at Ikki.

Taking no notice of what Kaito said, Ikki shouted back at him, "What did you do to him!" He hated this guy,_ Sheesh, didn't this guy ever wear his clothes properly?_

"How I teach my brother is none of your concern," Kaito retorted coolly, and as if boasting his ability to do whatever he wanted to Agito, he jerked out some kind of remote control out of his pocket and dramatically pressed a button, holding it down.

As soon as Kaito pressed the button, a large voltage ran through Agito's body exactly like when he was on top of the cooling tower.

Everyone gasped, "Agito!"

Unable to bear it any longer Ikki made a move, "Air Treck Ikki Special, '**Wheel Spin Drop**'," he stormed towards Kaito in his air trek and struck him in the face, hard. Kaito staggered backwards a couple of steps, his nose was broken and blood sprayed everywhere.

"You fucking bastard!" Kaito wiped away the blood with a sleeve and lifted the ends of his trousers to activate his hidden air trecks. "You're going to die, crow."

Immediately, Kogarasumaru lined up threateningly, ready to attack when ordered.

"Back off guys, this is my battle," Ikki was going to pay Kaito back for what he done to Akito, on his own.

"But Ikki!"

"**Don't** interfere."

They nodded unwillingly; Ikki's the boss after all.

An intense battle between Kaito and Ikki commenced. Riding up walls and over roofs of buildings; Kaito shooting and whipping relentlessly at Ikki; Ikki skilfully dodging the bullets and striking multiple numbers of punches and kicks enhanced by the force of AT's. Ikki performed great tricks, bringing out his great potential as the closest to being the Sky King. Resisting at any cost, Ikki seemed to forget all about the pain in his muscles, his injuries, or even the flying rubber bullets; all he knew was he had to beat Kaito.

Soon Kaito would successfully have worn Ikki out to the point where he won't be able to move, Ikki was panting heavily, sweating like a pig and injured from head to toe, whilst Kaito was only starting to sweat slightly with a few swollen areas over his body, barely visible.

A chance! Kaito stepped backwards, close to the edge of the roof, rubble fell and Kaito had instinctively looked behind and down to the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Ikki used his _ultimate move_…

"Ikki's ultimate move, '**Kuuu Missile'**!" The crow that lived in Ikki's hair shot out like a bullet straight at Kaito's face.

With no time to react, Kaito turned his head out of surprise of Ikki's outburst, just to be struck deeply by the crow right across the cheek, but even this was enough to make him fall over the edge without pulling anyone down with him.

There was a huge _thud_ and _crack_, the sound confirming Kaito hit the ground and bones breaking.

Kaito howled, both his legs were crippled and bent in an unnatural direction, Ikki had broken his legs, it was certain they won't be hearing from Kaito for at least a couple of months.

Since Kaito posed no threat, Ikki hurried to Agito's side and shook his shoulders in a panicking state, "Akito, Akito! Are you alright? Talk to me."

"Calm down, Ikki, let the guy talk," Ringo tried to restrain Ikki a little so Agito's head won't be shaken off.

Agito mumbled something.

"What was that? Say that louder…"

"I SAID STOP CALLING ME AKITO YOU FUCKING CROW!" Agito yelled in Ikkis ear, nearly deafening him, even the crow in Ikki's hair shrieked and flew out of its nest.

"Oh I don't care about you," Ikki quickly switched the eye patch to cover Agito's right eye in a second, "Akito, Akito, you alright?"

"Ikki…" Akito croaked, "Water… water…" Kaito had deprived Akito from water for nearly a day, his mouth was dry and body dehydrated.

"Ah! Water! There's a river over there!" Kazu pointed off past the cooling tower and the relatively calm river that was once used as a water source for the cooling water when the nuclear power station was still in use.

Excited and obviously without thinking, Ikki literally threw Akito into the river from where they stood, over at least 20 metres, in hope to get him to water as quickly as possible. Gobsmacked, they all watched Akito fly and drop into the river with a splash, amazed by the sheer throwing power of Ikki.

"Argh! I'm drowning!" Akito started screaming and struggling in the river, he did not know how to swim.

Coming to his rescue once again, Ikki had followed the flying Akito to the river bank and picked Akito up by the back of his jacket and Akito's struggling suddenly stopped realising he wasn't drowning._ What kind of a shark boy can't swim?_ Ikki thought to himself as Akito held floods of tears back after having a near death experience.

"You stupid Bagworm," Ikki chided, as he smiled softly at Akito, "You need to learn to swim." He hugged Akito tightly, telling Akito in his mind, _I'm never letting you go again_.

(To be continued)


	4. Sweet Summer Day

Just want to say I included the cat in this story because I had a strange obsession in behaving like a cat (don't ask) " I actually didn't look to see if Akito or Agito liked cats or dogs though I think it was at the end of one of the chapters of the manga… very sorry for the confusion!

Very long chapter compared to previous ones, but it just ended up that long and I decided that I like long chapters. The good bit's at the end, least I like the last bit of this chapter.

More Ikki x Akito stuff in the second half of this chapter, thanks for reminding Suzima about that I actually almost forgot.

Disclaimer: I got the idea of having an indoor seaside from an actual one in Japan that someone showed me a picture of on the Internet.

* * *

Chapter 4: Sweet Summer Day 

Ikki had decided to take them all go on a swimming trip to the famous indoor environmentally controlled beach where it feels like an outdoor summer seaside whatever the weather or season. To be exact, he only really wanted to take Akito with him. However, being poor with no money, Ronodi Plage being the one and only indoor controlled seaside in Japan, and it being the middle of winter; it would cost him a fortune to pay the transport and entrance fees. Therefore, he needed the money of his sisters, but then his friends heard about it and decided they were going too.

Ikki sighed; _I thought it was just going to be Akito and me… It's bad enough the others have to come, but why this!_ He looked up to the heavens and begged God for an answer, if there was a god.

Not only the members of the Kogarasumaru, Ikki's sisters, Emily and Yayoi have come, but even former members of disbanded Behemoth and Akira's girlfriend tagged along, obviously _someone_ let the news slip that they were going to Ronodi Plage. All in all, the rather large party consisted of: Akito/Agito, Kazu, Onigiri, Buccha, Yayoi, Emily, Ringo, Mikan, Ume, Rika, Mitsuru, Fumei, Ryo, Yasuyoshi, Akira, Ren, and Ikki himself.

_Kazu_, Ikki blamed in his head, staring daggers at the back of Kazu's head diagonally across from him on the high speed train, he must have let it slip to Sano Yasuyoshi, they had gotten rather close without anyone knowing. In actual fact, it was Agito who asked Akira intentionally to come and bring the rest of Behemoth and Ren to spoil Ikki's day as much as possible, who knew what Ikki'll do to Akito if they were alone.

No vein or artery in Ikki's head didn't pop in fury and frustration, he closed his eyes, refusing to watch, _if I can't see maybe I won't **be** seen, with these people_, they were such an embarrassment.

Everyone but him were acting like children who never been on a train before, pointing and screeching at every single thing that passed outside the window. Other voyagers on the same passenger car wisely chose to stay on the other end of the car, keeping a very safe distance between them.

Ikki sighed; at least there was only thirty minutes till they get off the train.

* * *

"Welcome to Ronodi Plage," the male receptionist smiled at the customers from behind the marble counter. 

"How much for, umm…" Ikki groaned turned round and counted heads, "err… _seventeen_ adults; nine guys and eight girls?" stressing the total number with distaste.

Inputting the data into the computer to be processed, the receptionist replied, "That would be 75,170 yen, thank you."

"Rika-nee…" Ikki called for his eldest sister to pay, lucky for them she had just won a pro-wrestling tournament and the prize money was a very large sum.

"Oh, it might be best if this young man doesn't go in the water because of his eye injury," the receptionist pointed to Akito's eye patch.

Ikki narrowed his eyes and hissed, "_He hasn't injured his eye_," and he slyly switched Akito's eye patch over his left eye.

"What the fuck do you mean I shouldn't go in the water, _ojii-san_?" Agito raged immediately after the eye patch moved.

"See, he's perfectly fine." Ikki abruptly moved the eye patch back to stop the rampage.

"Ah, I, I see…" the poor man was rather startled by the outburst from such a harmless looking boy, "well, I'm afraid we don't allow animals to be brought in…" pointing to the fluffy white cat which had grown quite considerably seeing as Akito fed her almost every other hour.

"Grrr…" Agito was growling menacingly, half clambering up the table to attack the receptionist.

The shining golden shark eye unnerved the man and quickly replied, "But I guess there can be an exception, seeing it's so adorable."

"Thank you very much!" Ikki snatched the money out of Rika's hands as she was counting them, and slammed them onto the desk, pleased with his small victory.

The girls headed off to the doorway with a pink hanging flap over the top, labelled "Women's" above it, and the boys to the doorway opposite with a blue hanging flap over the top, labelled "Men's".

The receptionist let out a sigh of relief, _I thought I was going to get my eyes gorged out by that kid, I'm just trying to earn a living…_

* * *

The sweltering sun shone down in the indoor beach, the tall ceiling must have been some sort of screen, playing a realistic perfect summer sky, and the walls too were screens playing a sky drifting into the horizon. It was a magnificent creation, with many features, there was an area of rock pools, and remnants of fallen cliffs. There were even a variety of waves created by wave generators. The only difference between this seaside and any other one was the waters, it was clear, and refreshing; and the sandy seabed could clear be seen through the beautiful clear light blue waters, waves reflecting the light from the 'sun'. 

The beach was filled with people of all ages; children built sandcastles in the sand, shot each other with water guns, and picking shells; adults sunbathed and watched the children from under their big umbrellas; people swam in the sea, children bobbing on their floats, teenagers on their surfboards. A perfect seaside, totally worth all the money.

"Ahh," Ringo had changed into a pale red two piece swimsuit that had yellow stars at the corners, she stretched her arms and breathed in a vast amount of air, "it's just like a real beach even the air smells of the sea!"

Beside Ringo was Ume dressed in the traditional blue school swimsuit, humming and building a sand-doll looking just like the creepy dolls she makes.

Relaxed without a care in the world on a towel, Rika in a deep dark red bikini lay on her back with a pair of shades over her eyes, sunbathing.

Meanwhile, Mikan, wearing a yellow bikini with a tank top style, could be seen surfing with experience on one of the larger waves out at sea in the distance.

The members of Sleeping Forest were already enjoying themselves, whereas the rest of the girls were leaning on the walls of the wooden huts attached to the wall waiting for the boys to come out. Yayoi and Emily were eager chatting away, as Ren and Ryo were expressionless, waiting for the rest of Behemoth to come out.

Unlike everyone else, Ren wore fabric country style shirt knotted at the front revealing her middle, tiny tight shorts hanging at her hips, and sandals to help prevent some of the sand from hurting her basic artificial right foot.

Hands clasped together and eyes sparkling, Emily drooled, "I can't believe I get to see Kazu-sama in trunks! It's practically next to naked!"

Yayoi edged away slowly, rather disturbed, "Emily… you're drooling…"

Stopping Emily to droll anymore, the boys finally came out of the men's hut, dressed in their array of swimming trunks.

"Ahhhh!" older women in bikinis swooned over Akito, such a handsome young boy in dark blue swimming trunks matching his hair; they surrounded Akito in a second, touching his manly scars still healing from Kaito's beatings and giggling at his blushes, cooing "Aww, he's so handsome! So adorable! He even has a little kitten."

"So many hot chicks!" Onigiri looked as if he was possessed, his eyes bulged inhumanely and sweated like a sponge squeezed; the sheer number of sexy women before his eyes was causing his brain to overheat, and a drooling Onigiri scrambled crazily over the sand around the crowd of girls around Akito, getting a better view.

Instead of extreme joy and delight on his face like Onigiri, Kazu's face was full of self pity and despair with "why me?" written all over it.

Despite Kazu's protests, Sano Yasuyoshi had in a very possessive manner wrapped his arm around Kazu's slumped shoulders, his height made it perfect for him to just rest his arm over Kazu's shoulders. Yasuyoshi, the Iron Clock, was very interested in Kazu, he was one of the only people who could break through his invisibility trick and time manipulation, and he had begun to have a growing soft spot for the boy. Chuckling inwardly, Yasuyoshi pushed his spectacles up higher by the bridge of the frame and light reflected off the glass, hiding his scheming eyes. He slid his arm down from Kazu's shoulders and sneakily patted Kazu's bum.

Kazu shot up straight, hairs standing on end, quickly recovering he shouted, "Don't do that you pervert!"

Emily was fuming, bright red in the face and shaking with anger, how dare he act all intimate with her Kazu-sama! By her side, Yayoi sweat-dropped, failing to try and calm her down.

The whole purpose of this trip today was for Ikki to teach Akito how to swim, in other words: **'being alone with Akito'**, it drove Ikki mad seeing Akito being harassed by old hags, and himself being ignored, the whole day he had to put up with these annoying people. At first, only an eye twitched, but then with a sudden outburst, Ikki bellowed as loud as thunder, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL DOING! GET AWAY FROM HIM! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU PEOPLE!"

All the women surrounding Akito were virtually blown away by Ikki's voice like a hurricane, leaving Akito smiling bashfully to himself as if nothing happened and the kitten protected in his arms.

"Hn." Still annoyed, Ikki stomped heavily over the sand to where Akito stood and seized his wrists, dragging him towards the sea, "Come on, before they decide to come back."

The cool refreshing water washed up against their feet as Ikki strode determined into the sea and Akito stepped cautiously through the waters while making sure he held Ikki tightly around the arm.

Walking a little further into the sea till the water was up to Akito's waist they stopped and Ikki looked at Akito expectantly, Akito and the fluffy white cat, who had clung onto Akito's head in fear of falling into the water, cocked their heads and looked back at Ikki blankly.

Acting like a knowledgeable lecturer, Ikki told Akito, "First, you'll have to relax in the water, just think of it like taking a bath."

That much Akito could understand, and he listened intently.

"Right, now," Ikki blushed and looked away into the water, "lie on your back and kick your legs in the water. I'll put my arms under you to make sure you won't fall in and drown, so you can practise using your legs."

"Are you sure, Ikki?" Akito wasn't too sure about this, was it even safe?

"Trust me."

Akito nodded, and Ikki placed his arms behind Akito's back and legs, lifting Akito up off the seabed and laying him down on his back half immersed in the water. The cat instantly yelped as her little island that kept her dry shifted, and she instinctively leapt onto Ikki's spiky nest hair, an uncomfortable but safe place to stay till they hit the dry shores.

Tensed, Akito kept his eyes on Ikki's face as if scared he'll disappear. He weakly kicked his legs and he felt himself move forward. Ikki kept by his side and Akito felt the strong arms still against his back, making him relax a little.

Pleased with his pupil, Ikki gave Akito some pointers, "Breathe more naturally through your mouth, and put more force into your legs."

As Akito became more confident in himself, Ikki steadily dropped his arms without Akito being aware so that Akito was in fact floating and swimming by himself. Once Ikki was sure Akito would be able to swim by himself, he lifted his hands out the water and waved them by his head as he smiled comically down at Akito, casting a shadow over his face.

"Eh?" Akito screamed like a baby, he jumped up out of the waters into Ikki's arms, tears spewed out of his tightly shut eyes.

Ikki laughed as he hugged Akito closer, "I let go of you ages ago! You should be able to swim perfectly fine. Try again," Ikki placed Akito back into the water, "this time use your arms too to help you," and Ikki demonstrated by swinging his arms backwards alternately.

Soon enough, Akito had mastered the technique and was swimming around Ikki like a natural in all different styles.

Ikki was shocked and even a little ashamed, _damn! That bastard can swim better than me!_

"Hee hee! Agito can swim much better than me," Akito admitted modestly, sticking his tongue out playfully and scratching the back of his neck absentmindedly.

Slightly puzzled, Ikki and Agito sensed their backs cool all too suddenly.

"Yoo-hoo! Lovebirds!" the sound of Mikan's voice brought chills down Ikki's back, it was not a good sign.

Slowly, turning their heads, Ikki saw Mikan surfing on a gigantic roaring wave, quickly closing in on them.

"Argh!" Ikki and Akito gave a high pitched squeal as they ran for their lives towards land; too bad they couldn't run that fast in water, it may have been a better choice to swim at top speed. Before they had time to debate, the rolling wave had already swallowed them and washed them up onto the shore, leaving them wet and spluttering on the sand as it retreated, whereas Mikan rode on the wave effortlessly and slid onto the sand safely.

"Dumass," Mikan was in hysterics, clutching her sides aching from laughter, "you swam into the surfing zone!" she pointed at a line of floating yellow balls connected together forming a boarder to their left.

Groaning, Ikki got up onto all fours and like a dog he shook all the water off of him and the kitten that had clung for her life to Ikki's hair, making her into a white fluffy ball.

Akito gasped, happily, "Cloud!" he jumped up and took the shaken cat into his arms "Let's call her Cloud; she's white, cute and fluffy just like a cloud. Can we? Can we? Can weeee?" Excitedly, Akito jumped up and down around Ikki while holding the cat towards Ikki by under her forelegs.

"Yeah… Sounds like a great name…" Ikki replied uncertainly, _at least it's got a name now_.

"Hey, Sky King," Akira's called over, "up for a match of beach volleyball?" Akira grinned as he bounced the volleyball up and down from his wrist, standing on one side of the net, obviously in the middle of a paused game with Mitsuru against Fumei, Ryo and Yasuyoshi.

Ikki smirked, "We beaten you at A-T's, we'll beat you at beach volleyball! Kogarasumaru gather!"

Members of Kogarasumaru gathered in a tight circle at Ikki's call.

"Hey, do you even know how to play volleyball?" Kazu whispered to Ikki, who had taken up the challenge without a second thought.

"…" Ikki never thought about that, all that really computed in his brain was 'match', it was a challenged and he would never back out of one, even though he had no idea how hard beach volleyball just was, "I'm sure it can't be that hard to play.'

The group sighed, just what they expected.

"I say we're pretty screwed…" Buccha looked over his shoulder towards Behemoth, "they look pretty experienced."

Everyone else turned their heads of his shoulders to see Behemoth warming up. Hekatonkheir Bomb's long arms and legs could block any ball coming to their side. Iron Hammer could hit the hardest fastest ball back to them. Iron Clock's speed could catch any ball and his brilliant mind could easily come up with a sure win strategy. Gorgon Shell's Oshiroibori tattoos could hypnotise them to slow their movements with her dance. Super Beast was not the leader of Behemoth for nothing; he could even stop Iron Hammer's punch with just one hand. Yep they will surely lose terribly.

All this flashed before Ikki's mind before he answered Akira's offer, and he quickly declined, "Nah, I'm tired, maybe another time."

Akira shrugged, "Alright then," then raising his voice to address everyone, "Let's go get some drinks and something to eat!"

There was a loud cheer and they all raced off to the line of shops and stalls against the wall of the building.

Just as Akito was about to chase after them Ikki placed a hand on Akito's shoulder and lifting Cloud from his arms, Ikki dropped her onto the sand, "You can eat later, come with me."

* * *

To one side of the beach, where it was empty, there were what seemed to be remnants of a cliff, rough rocks and arches in cool shallow water barely up to their waist, gave shade and shelter, perfect for quality time. 

At long last, Ikki and Akito were completely alone, if not counting Agito. Ikki carefully guided Akito over small rocks by offering his hands for Akito to hold, and into an arch.

Ikki pressed Akito against the rock and gazed dreamily into his eyes. They were silent. No-one spoke; in the background they could hear the laughter, shouts, screams, conversations and splashes of water of the other people from afar. More so, the sound of the calm waves washing up against the rock and their skin was clear and their soft breathes excited. Hidden away from the sun added with the coolness of the waters around them, naturally caused goosebumps to rise on their skin most noticeably their arms.

'Perfect excuse to get close' scrolled across Ikki's mind loud and clear, and almost as if automatically ordered by the overmind, Ikki leaned forward almost without thinking, placing his an arm on the rock face, Akito rested on, just a little higher and left of him. With his right hand, he touched the back of Akito's hand with his fingertips, slowly slithering up his arm as his heart raced faster and faster.

Akito watched the hand crawling up his arm, over his shoulders making his heart flutter; the fingers slipped up his neck and held his chin tenderly, lifting his head so their eyes met. Akito blushed instantaneously as Ikki's unusually soft eyes gazed at him. Ikki never looked at anyone that way.

Looking deep into Akito's eye, at the corner of Ikki's vision he noticed the eye patch, reminding Ikki that they were not completely alone. Ikki wondered if there would be one day when Akito would not need the eye patch anymore and there would only be Akito in his body. But then what would happen to Agito? He didn't want Agito to disappear; after all he was his friend, sort of.

Akito's drumming heartbeat was deafening his ear, was Ikki about to do what he thought he was? Ikki's head had moved gradually closer and tilted, it was certainly an attempt! Ikki hesitated just as a matter of millimetres was between their lips; Akito's felt his heart drop lower than ever, utterly disappointed.

All of a sudden, Ikki noticed that their noses were almost touching and his head was tilted slightly, _when had I bent forward so close to Akito? So close… close enough… to kiss._ There was a strange sensation inside his body, everything was tensed, his gut felt like it was tying itself into knots and his heart pushed up to his throat, he was actually nervous. Nervous of how Akito would react if he really did kiss him.

And as if a compelling force overcame him, Ikki closed the final space between them, and their lips met. It felt so natural to kiss Akito, his lips were warm and tender; he never wanted to leave these lips.

In the shadows of Akito's mind Agito lurked. Agito let out a heartbreaking pained smile, _as long as Akito is happy, but if that Ikki ever hurts him, I won't forgive him_.

"Crow-kun?" a voice from outside the rock arch called searchingly.

Quickly removing his lips from Akito's and stepping back a step, Ikki darted his head left and right, _that voice… that voice was…_ "Simca?"

A feminine figure popped into view and walked towards them, and it was surely Simca in a beige and green string bikini, her new short cropped lilac hair fluttered in the breeze.

"Hello, Crow-kun," Simca greeted in a seductive tone and she flung herself into Ikki, taking him into her arms.

Surprised by Simca's arrival Ikki did not resist and was pushed in between Simca's breasts.

Simca stroked Ikki's hair, and noticed that Akito was also here, "Oh, Akito, you're here too?"

Too depressed seeing Ikki stuck to another person Akito didn't respond, instead Agito flared inside him and with a quick hand movement, the eye patched was placed over his left eye.

"You bastard!" Agito roared at Ikki, tugging Ikki off Simca and thrusting a punch up from under Ikki's chin, making him stumble backwards. Unsatisfied with just a punch, Agito repeatedly kicked Ikki in the crotches as he yelped in pain unable to strike back.

Simca chuckled quietly, amused.

(To be continued)

* * *

Oh yeah, just remembered, do any of you think I should bump this fic up to rating M? Due to the violence in the last chapter. 


	5. The Set Up

With school now, I hardly got any time to write so don't expect me to update for like another… couple of weeks at least, maybe even a month, I'm going to Lake District for a week on the 29th Oct coz of a stupid geography trip T-T where i wont have access to a pc let alone the internet!! I'm going to suffer from internet withdrawal symptoms...

Anyway! Most of the stuff I included in the first 2 thirds of the chapter are very unnecessary coz I couldn't really be bothered to re-read it, which I wrote weeks ago and I cant really remember what happened, just wanted this chapter out of the way. So there you have it a very strange chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Set Up

"Are you sure sir? A _large_ strawberry milkshake and a _large_ Boss coffee?" the waiter asked politely, "That's quite a lot, and you may want to order a smaller size…"

Agito was sitting at a table outside a coffee shop enjoying the early fresh air in the chilly morning, but this imbecile of a waiter had to get him fired up already. Agito gave the man a dangerous look. "I said a **large** strawberry milkshake and a **large** Boss coffee! What part of that don't you understand?!"

"Yes, yes, of course sir," the waiter bowed repeatedly and hurriedly scurried back behind the counter inside the small coffee shop as he chanted 'large-strawberry-milkshake-large-Boss-coffee' over and over again under his breath, to get Agito his milkshake and coffee.

In a matter of seconds, the waiter was back at Agito's table outside, balancing two large glasses filled to the top with foam, one pink and the other brown.

"One large strawberry milkshake," the waiter declared as he placed the pink drink onto the table, "and one large Boss coffee," and he placed the other glass down beside the pink, "Please enjoy your drinks." With that the waiter returned to his post beside the entrance of the open shop.

Agito slipped his eye patch over his right eye to allow Akito to enjoy his shake.

"Agito! Thank you soooo much! You know me too well," Akito cheered gleefully, and instantly grabbed the glass of milkshake and sucked up a mouthful of thick freezing strawberry milkshake, the sweetness was exactly how he felt inside full of love for his friend Agito.

_More than that fucking crow_, Agito commented.

Akito's face fell having being reminded of Ikki and his eyes began to well up.

_Fuck_, Agito groaned Akito can't cry now,_ Stop it Akito! We finally get some rest and time to ourselves, enjoy it while you can!_

It didn't help. Akito bit his lip and straining to hold the tears back.

_If you don't cry I'll let you pick what rides we go on at the amusement park… _this was Agito's last resort, Akito always wanted to go on them kiddy rides and Agito would strongly refuse to be seen anywhere near them.

Brightening, Akito asked enthusiastically, "Really?!"

_Yeah…_ Agito confirmed miserably, _now let me drink my coffee!_

Akito giggled childishly, and swapped the eye patch happily over his left eye.

During this whole time, businessmen holding their hot morning coffee on their way to work were warily watching the young boy showing signs of mental instability, what bad luck must they have to meet someone who escaped out of a loony bin right at the beginning of the day? They knew it had to be a sign of an eventful day.

"Finally, I get my coffee," Agito muttered to himself pretending not to notice the eyes staring at him, it was too early in the morning and he was too tired to break someone's neck.

Agito slurped noisily on his Boss coffee, thinking about how much Ikki pissed him off last week at the beach. But at least it gave him an excuse to drag Akito away from Ikki and he had declared that he and Akito were busy dating the moment they stepped back into the house from their day out to the beach in spite of Ikki. Agito totally ignored Ikki for the rest of the week, kicking him out of his own room so Agito and Akito got the room to themselves and Ikki had to sleep in the bathroom.

- Flashback -

The stairs of the Noyamano residence creaked as Agito climbed them, turning his back on the rest of the crew.

"A _date_?!" bewildered, Ikki stared at the back of Agito's head, "But. But. But." His voice suddenly dropped to a confused tone, "How?" and quickly changing back to an unwavering tone, "I mean you can't! I forbid it!"

Agito continued up the stairs, "Whatever."

"Fine!" Ikki pouted, and wanting to make Akito jealous he shouted up the stairs, "Well, I'm going on a date with Simca _and _Ringo!"

Simca's and Ringo's faces brightened from behind Ikki and they pounced on him immediately, "Yay! Ikki's come back to us!"

Akito stiffened within Agito. "Do what you want."

- End of flashback -

Ikki thought back to last week's abrupt announcement of dates, he sighed, now he had to accompany two girls, to be precise sandwiched between them, and he became lost in his thoughts, ignoring the two girls.

Ringo, trailed behind Ikki, shy and jealous of the attention Simca must be getting from him, to be honest, she'd rather see Akito hitting on Ikki than let him become Simca's toy. She looked at Simca from the corner of her eye. From her point of view, Simca had evil red ogre eyes, a hungry sinister smile, and she was luring him to her domain of death.

Riding backwards on her A-T's slightly ahead of Ikki, Simca tried to tantalise him, and tempt him to her, she was not having any luck. She frowned thoughtfully, _why is Ikki ignoring me?_ Then it came to her, yesterday at the beach, she had found Ikki awfully close to Akito in such a secluded part of the beach. If she didn't know how interested in girls Ikki was, she would have thought they were a romantic couple, but that couldn't be it, could it?

Simca physically shook the thought out of her head, there was no way Ikki would fall in _love_ with Akito, she was sure of it, _besides, Ikki would choose me_, she told herself in self-confidence.

Brining it up a few notches, Simca circled round Ikki, brushing herself against him as she did so.

Still, Ikki was daydreaming, of what Akito might be doing right now and he didn't even notice Simca.

With no other choice, Simca slowed in front of Ikki so he'd bumped into her, and she forced herself onto Ikki, pushing her chest into Ikki and helping his hand round onto her posterior (her butt).

"Argh!" Ikki and Ringo screamed loud and genuinely enough to make other innocent pedestrians think the entire population of ghosts had appeared before Ikki's and Ringo's very eyes, ready to gobble them all up.

_AAAAAARGH! Why does she feel so weird? This just doesn't feel right, _becoming dizzy and sick Ikki shuddered uncontrollably; Simca just felt so out of shape to him, he was sure she used to be really hot. Maybe it was the hair… her hair looked terrible after it was cut; it made her look strangely out of proportion.

_I can't believe she just did that! Nooo, Ikki's getting further and further away from meee,_ Ringo wailed inside the paralyzed body. Breaking free from her frozen state, Ringo charged toward the entangled two and tore Ikki off of Simca. "What do you think you're doing!"

"What does it look like?" Simca replied rhetorically.

Quite shaken and shocked by Simca's sudden physique change, Ikki stood in the middle of the war Simca vs Ringo,

Just at this moment, Agito and Akito turned the corner of the street to find the three. They were in a wrestling ring, they could almost hear the ding ding of the bell indicating the start and end of the round.

Akito raised an eyebrow, while Agito cursed to himself, _what on earth is going on?_

Simca had Ringo pinned down painfully to the wall and warned her, "Don't get in the way. It's not as if you're getting anywhere with Crow-kun."

The killing aura of the Thorn King flared, and with all her force, Ringo blew Simca off like a hurricane, "How do you know Ikki likes you!? I just respect Ikki's wishes!"

Spinning across the air like boomerang, Simca smacked against Ikki, and they both tumbled onto the ground. Simca sat on Ikki face with him under her skirt, as they landed. Spontaneously, blinding thick beams of light shot out of Ikki's eyes and mouth, the sheer power blew her skirt up almost reaching the other side of outer space.

Looking up, Ikki saw Akito gawping at them, "I swear this isn't how it looks."

* * *

"A mirror house!" Akito jumped up and down, pointing at the stone square building, large white letters spelt 'Mirror House' across the top, "I never been in one of those before!"

Ikki perked up an ear, _was that a hint?_

To much of Agito's distaste, Ikki, Simca and Ringo had decided to 'tag along' with Agito and Akito to the theme park, it was meant to be just him and Akito!

Ikki sneakily darted his eyes left and right in a quick motion to make sure Simca and Ringo wasn't looking. Simca and Ringo were still busy trying to beat each other but in the form of the game Test of Strength, hammering away madly with the giant mallet, attracting quite a large crowd around them.

Ikki offered to go with him, but before the words escaped from his throat, someone had already offered.

"Oh really?! Agito, you wouldn't mind going too?!" Akito clapped his hands in joy like a child.

Sigh, _I forgot about him…_ Ikki hung his head in defeat and followed the hyperactive child that bounced towards the Mirror House.

The mirror house seemed abandoned, there were no-one supervising or any other visitors, but still they did not think there anything strange about it, they let themselves in and the door shut firmly behind them. What they didn't see was the fallen sign face-down, by the doors.

Initially Akito was excited about the dark, the glow from the floor, their only source of light; bumping into mirrors and clear glass and even at discovering they made a turn into a dead end. He giggling at the fact that he got to hold Ikki's hands, 'to make sure they didn't get separated in the dark' Ikki had said, but they both knew that it was just an excuse.

"Ikki, are you sure you know the way out?" Akito asked worriedly, stopping them in their tracks, they had been making their way through the labyrinth for at least half an hour, and it was starting to lose all its fun and become tiresome, "Can't we just go back the way we came?

To be honest, Ikki had absolutely no idea how they were going to get out, he was just trying to take any step that he could see in hope that they would get to the exit. He didn't want Akito to know that when he had turned to see if they could go back the way they came, mirrors had moved to block the way back, they could only go forwards deeper into the maze.

Silence answered Akito's question. He shook Ikki's arm to get his attention, "Ikki? Are you alright? Did you…"

"Lets rest here for a bit, we're a bit tired," Ikki interrupted, and not even waiting for a reply he sat down on the floor leaning against the cold mirror wall and pulled Akito down to sit between his legs as he hugged him from behind, resting his chin on Akito's shoulder.

Akito was caught totally off guard, and his only reaction was to blink.

They sat there in a comfortable silence for a while, relaxing under each other's warmth and smell, until Ikki spoke.

"Akito?" He whispered into his ear.

"Hmm?"

"I was just wondering… if we're stuck here forever, what would you do?" Ikki asked hesitantly.

Puzzled, Akito twisted his body round to look into Ikki's uneasy eyes, "What do you mean…?"

"What I mean is," Ikki flustered he felt his heart start to quicken, "like… would you mind," he felt everything inside himself tighten and he pulled Akito closer to a hug, "being with me, forever?" His voice was slightly muffled as he spoke into Akito's sweater.

Just about able to make out what Ikki said, Akito reddened; he really wanted to burst out yelling 'YES! IT'S WHAT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED!' But the romantic tension caused him to nod instead and squeaked a, "Yes."

He couldn't help but smile, and in a dash he gave Aktio a small kiss on the lips, which led to a more, brusque, assertive, almost desperate passionate kiss and embrace, all this was too welcomed.

In the middle of it all, Akito was unable to hold back a yawn and he yawned in Ikki's face as he tried to pull away.

"Akito, why don't you sleep for a while?" and Ikki laid Akito's head on his lap as a pillow, "You've been up since the crack of dawn," he recalled the foot stamping on his crotches as Agito stormed into Ikki's new bedroom (aka the bathroom) for a morning wash this morning.

"I'm not tir-" a long yawn interrupted himself, "Umm, maybe just for a bit."

While Akito fell asleep, Ikki ran his fingers through Akito's hair with one hand and held Akito's hand with his other and he soon too nodded off in his seated position.

No longer than a few minutes, a swift hand rose and switched the eye-patch over to the left eye. Agito lifted an eyelid cautiously and grinned widely, baring his sharp fangs hungrily. He sat up and loomed over the sleeping figure of Ikki, casting a shadow over him, and careful not to wake him, Agito reached towards Ikki's jacket. The thuds of falling clothes followed the rustles of fabric forced off.

Agito stripped Ikki to his boxers.

Not wasting any time, Agito stuffed his hand in his trouser pocket and slipped out a small square packet…

(To be continued…)


	6. The End Or is it?

Thank you to everyone who gave me reviews for the last chapter! I was kinda worried about what kind of response I'll get, but they were all good! And I noticed I made some mistakes in the last chapter, sorry!! But I've corrected it I think. Anyways last chapter! Decided to end it here, because I've got too much work to do for school and don't really have time to write.

* * *

Chapter 6: The End. Or is it? 

_Ahh… so warm_. Ikki lay on his side, hugging the comfortable warm blanket tighter. He really didn't want to get up, his body ached all over from head to toe and he had no idea why.

"Mmmm" The blanket groaned. _Eh? How can a blanket groan?_ Ikki lifted his eyelids, the moment he did so he wished he hadn't.

What Ikki was hugging ever so tightly was not his lovely warm blankie but the sleeping Agito, his sharp fangs bearing and eyebrows furrowed even in his sleep; however, that wasn't the thing that terrified him most…

_Why am I **naked**! Why is **he** naked! Why are **we** naked! Why do my hands feel so sticky! What the fuck has Agito done to me!_ Masses of unanswered questions roasted his brain, dragging Ikki further and further into despair. It wasn't as if Ikki never seen Agito naked before, but that was Akito in the bath and it's an entire different matter.

And just as Ikki thought things couldn't get any worse, he tried to wriggle his arm free from under Agito but his hand met something slimy and plastic. _Oh God, please don't let it be…_ Ikki picked up the thing and brought it from behind Agito to Ikki's line of vision.

"ARHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Ikki screamed such an earth quaking scream that the very walls, mirrors and ground shook and if extra-terrestrial life did exist they would have heard him on the other side of space.

Hanging from his fingers was a slimy, and used (so he assumes) contraption of contraception. Condom. _A CONOM!?_ Ikki felt his life that was already being sucked away, jump out of his skin to the burning pits of hell.

To make things worse for Ikki once again, the curled up bundle stirred in his sleep under Ikki's jacket that covered them both waists down. _Shit! How am I meant to run away now he's up!? _Ikki stared on in horror, he felt far from lucky being in close contact watching a nude Agito wake up, which many people would have died for.

Agito rolled onto his front, his messy blue hair clung to his sweat-covered skin, covering his face in a demonic way. A pale hand raised itself, bones creaked and cracked into their places, and the hand fell dramatically to the ground, clawing the stone floor as it lifted the rest of the body up rigidly. Another hand aided the first in the same way, the joints between bones squeaked painfully like sharp nails down a blackboard. He flicked his head towards Ikki, a hungry predator to its prey, his golden shark eye shining like headlights through his hair, and he started to crawl on all fours towards him. It was the Ring all over again, it just had to be a twisted nightmare.

"Up already?" Agito sat up, running his hands through his hair to get it off his face and it settled back to its usual position, "I put your boxers back on for you… didn't want you to get cold," Agito sneered at him.

Colour drained visibly from Ikki's face then sudden anger enveloped him, "What did you do to me!" he demanded, as he thrust a hand forward and gripped Agito's neck, drawing him closer as his nails sunk deeper into his neck drawing blood which filled under his nails.

Unaffected by the nails digging into his neck or the fresh beads of blood bursting through his skin, Agito smirked, "You mean I was so rough on you, that you couldn't take it and you can't even remember what happened last night? How pitiful-"

"Shut up!" Ikki cut him off, whilst discreetly taking a peek under the jacket and true to his word, Ikki's boxers were on. _How could I have let this happen!?_

Catching Ikki checking he had his boxers on, Agito laughed inwardly, remember how he had fun last night, how he had thrown Ikki against the mirrors, almost shattering them, how he had kicked Ikki, all over his body. Whenever he started to gain consciousness, Agito would ram his head repeatedly against the floor, the mirrors, anything that was hard enough to knock him out cold again.

Ikki always thought that he could brag about his first time and beating the others, but this is certainly **not** something he wants to let other people know.

MWAAHAHAHAHAAAAA! That stupid crow, so gullible. Agito thought back to what happened the night before…

…_The thuds of falling clothes followed the rustles of fabric forced off._

_Agito stripped Ikki to his boxers._

_Not wasting any time, Agito stuffed his hand in his trouser pocket and slipped out a small square packet. He tore it open to bring out a neatly circular plastic material, unrolling it in one swift action to get it over and done with and dropped the slimy object onto the floor._

"_Hn," Agito smirked, time to fully pay back Ikki. Agito clenched his fists and his knuckles cracked. _

A cold foot came flying through the air and caught Agito at his throat, Ikki growled like a wild wolf as his crushed Agito neck, pinning him down on the ground. "Don't you dare tell anyone about this."

The smaller boy raised his eyebrows, unaware of the pressure against his neck, remarking, "Like I would want to talk to anyone about you and you puny thing."

Hearing that relieved Ikki a little; not from being told his most private part was insulted for its size, but that Agito wouldn't be telling anyone about this 'little' incident, well at least he didn't think Agito had any reason to lie. Would he?

"Well, Akito would like to know…" Agito trailed off.

Ikki swore this could not be good for him, when does the nightmare end? He removed his foot from Agito's neck and squatted down; he looked at the floor unable to look at Agito, "Why?" he asked silently, more to himself, his voice fatigued, heartbroken and confused.

Startled by this response Agito sat up, face expressionless. Their bare shoulders brushed, their heads were level side-by-side, though facing opposite directions. "What do you mean, 'why'?"

Sighing, Ikki tilted his head backwards and looked towards the direction of the sky, it was always quiet when they weren't arguing, but this time, there was a feeling of seriousness with it. "Why would you want to do that? Akito will only be the one who's hurt most."

This boy is full of surprises today; Agito never thought Ikki would actually think about Akito's feelings. "Akito doesn't have to find out," Agito paused and turned his head to look at Ikki, "under one condition."

Instinctively, Ikki turned to face him, in response, waiting for the condition.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!" A beet red man wearing a construction site yellow hat, yet in a business suit yelled at Agito and Ikki, he was obviously the manager of the group of men behind him. "Cant you read!? There's a sign at the front that says. 'Do not enter. Cleared out, for refurbishment to start tomorrow'. Can't you do _THAT_ somewhere else."

It's not surprising the man mistook Ikki and Agito for 'lovers'; 2 boys stripped to their boxers and looked as though they were about to kiss, in heated passion.

* * *

"So what's the condition?" Ikki lay on the grass slope along the river, with his arms under his head, watching the clouds drift by above them. 

Ikki and Agito were fully clothed of course, the speed at which they ran (yes, ran, they didn't have time to put their A-T's on) from the amusement park was amazing, being chased of course with men armed with shovels and the like. They had found themselves an alleyway and got changed back into their clothes.

"I want you to stay out of Akito's life." Agito stood next to Ikki, with his hands in his trouser pockets.

"I refuse." Ikki answered instantaneously.

"What!" _How could he just refuse straight away?_

He sat up and smiled, "That is the one thing I will not do."

"Why not?"

"Because I really like Akito. I guess it doesn't matter if you do tell him, he'll understand that i like him, not you and last night was just a mistake."

Blood boiled within Agito, this wasn't working the way it was meant to, _Fuck_.

"You like Akito too, don't you."

"What gave you that idea!"

Ikki shrugged, "Seemed kinda obvious…"

"Even if I do it's none of your business," Agito snarled threateningly, "I'm never gonna let Akito be with you."

Ikki shot up onto his feet with a new determination burning inside him, "I challenge you to an A-T battle! If I win (which I will) you won't try interfere between me and Akito. If you win, I'll do whatever you say."

"You think too highly of yourself, crow. There's no point battling with A-T's, I'd win without even having to try. A simple coin toss should be sufficient…"

"…Leaving it up to fate," Ikki finished.

Agito fished a coin from his pocket, "Heads or tails?"

"Errr…. Heads!"

The coin flicked up high into the air, the sonorous ringing echoed intensely. They watched the coin intently; it slowed and fell back downwards. Agito caught it with high right hand and slapped it onto the back of his left.

This was the moment they were waiting for, which side was fate on?

At a snails pace, Agito removed his hand and the side of the coin shone up at them. It was Heads.

"YES!!!" Ikki thanked the Gods in the heavens above him, never had he felt so happy, even more than the feeling of flying high above everything else in the sky.

A small smile appeared on Agito's face and he reached up to switch the eye patch to cover his right eye, just before he did, he said, "You know, nothing really happened between us last night." And Agito was gone, and Akito gained dominance of the body.

"Ikki!" Akito called for him joyously, leaping into Ikki's wide unexpected arms, bringing them both down rolling on the grass.

Still too shocked to react to the news that Ikki and Agito didn't really have sex, Ikki just lay there on the grass with Akito hugging him like a child who found his long lost favourite toy.

Somewhere inside Akito, Agito grinned to himself, _Just because I wont interfere between you and Akito doesn't mean I wont try to be with Akito. I'll just let you enjoy this time with Akito for a little while longer_, there was still a glimmer of hope for Agito.

(End)

* * *

I just want to finish this fic now, so yeah, crappy ending. Why? Because I have dragged it out too long (forgotten what I wrote before), I'm running out of ideas, and have masses of coursework for school. Besides! I have a great inspiration for a new Air Gear fanfic, but you wont see it for a long while yet! 


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